The Tale of the 600 Calorie Prowler
by Chadini
Summary: Hank thinks there is a prowler, Grissom is eating a burger and there is someone at the door. GSR. Spoilers for Season 8.


**Tale of the 600 Calorie Prowler**

**Disclaimer:** None of the characters are mine and if CBS wants to come after me, they can hook up with the Columbia Records and Tapes guy. He has been after my ass for years. (That line gleaned from Reality Bites – one of my favorites movies of all time – and it is so very true.).

**A/N:** A special thanks to my beta woobie, junglemag. Please blame any mistakes and the title on her. Seriously, I couldn't do it without her. Thanks! Also, please note, that the cheese factor is dangerously high in this fic.

The prompt for this story is LV Metro Event Code 403 Prowler.

* * *

The entire ride back from their scene in Boulder City, Nick, who was obviously hungry, talked incessantly about the ins and outs of the In-N-Out "secret" menu. The Texan went on for what seemed to be hours about how a two by four is not a standard measurement of wood, but a burger with two beef patties and four pieces of cheese. Grissom was both disgusted and intrigued as Nick continued about the urban legend of a customer ordering a sixteen by sixteen, sixteen pieces of meat and sixteen pieces of cheese. But much to Grissom's dismay, and now grumbling stomach, Nick didn't stop there. He went on further to expound on the virtues of his favorite - a double double Animal Style with extra secret sauce, grilled onions, extra pickles and beef patties cooked in mustard.

"Damn that Nick." Grissom muttered to himself as his car had somehow ended up in the insanely long drive through at the In–N-Out. His original plan was to get a nice little take out meal from "The Root of the Matter," which was a vegetarian restaurant that he and Sara used to go to after work a few times a week. Only in Vegas could you find a 24-hour vegetarian restaurant.

During their time together, Sara's eating habits had started to rub off on him. She had convinced him to start eating better, more fruits and vegetables, less fried food and any food sold from a street cart. She would joke with him that he would have more energy and feel better if he got rid of the toxic chemicals in his food. But deep down, he knew that she was concerned about him, between the stress of work and his age, so he decided to try and take better care of himself if he was going to keep up with her.

He loved the fact that she loved him so much that she cared about what he put in his body. But tonight, he didn't care about being healthy or caring about the poor animals or their plight. He was hungry and the #2 Tofu combo was not going to help.

Being the only sober person stuck in the drive through at 4:30 am, Grissom tried to occupy his mind with other things than his burning desire to call Brass to haul in everyone in this line. His mind drifted off to a spat that he had with Catherine earlier in the day.

As of late, all of his shifts were running together, turning into days, which were quickly turning into weeks and now, into months. The next thing he knew, he realized that Sara had been gone four months. Four months, two weeks, four days and about six hours to be precise.

The only way that he could manage her absence without losing his mind was to take each moment as it came, bracing himself for the next. Grissom took everything methodically, piece by piece. He had the momentum to keep going forward as long as he didn't stop. It was the only way he could figure out how to function without breaking down. He thought that his plan was working fine. Today, he learned that according to Catherine, his plan was a miserable failure.

He frowned as he remembered how angry Catherine was with him right now. Well, angry was not the most accurate word. Pissed was more like it. He knew he had until Thursday night to sign off on all of the departmental reports so Catherine could do all of her filing on Friday and have the weekend off. The problem was that today was Friday and he had completely forgotten about her reports, and she once again, had to step in and clean up his paperwork debacle.

While Catherine was one of his oldest and most loyal friends, they were completely at odds over his decisions regarding Sara. She thought that he needed to take a leave of absence, rush out to San Francisco and bring her back. When he refused, they had one of their most heated arguments, with the end result being her accusing him of everything from being a scared little boy to a stubborn jackass, both of which he conceded, that he may be. Grissom rationalized that he was only doing what Sara had asked him to. She pleaded with him to give her the time to sort things out on her own, and he was going to honor her request, even if it killed him.

The sound of the shrill car horn and string of expletives from the car behind him broke Grissom out of his thoughts and spurred him to drive forward to pick up his meal. He paid the cashier and took his food from the window, happy to be on his way home. As he drove, the delicious smell of his greasy cheeseburger and fries seeped out of the bag and began to permeate through out the car. A small smile graced his lips as he decided that he would have to take the car in to be detailed next week, so when Sara came home, she wouldn't find out about this little transgression.

When Grissom arrived at his townhouse, Hank was eagerly waiting for him at the door. Like any good dog that has trained his master well, Hank was ready for Grissom to pat his head, scratch his ears and let him outside. As Grissom dutifully followed Hank to the back door, he felt pangs of guilt because he should really take Hank for a walk. It had been ages since he was home and awake long enough to spend any time with Hank, but Grissom was hungry and tired and didn't have the energy to be pulled from one end of the block to the other.

Holding his burger bag high enough to be out of Hank's reach, Grissom opened the back door and hooked Hank up to the chain outside. If Hank wanted to he could easily break the flimsy chain and get away, hopefully he wouldn't though. For a brief moment, Grissom had a flash of Hank breaking free and tearing though the neighborhood, digging up Mrs. Melvin's flowers and knocking over all the garbage cans in a 4 block radius. Looking down at the boxer, he worried that he had the same thought as well. If Hank did get away, Grissom was too tired to chase him right now. He wanted to eat, have a beer and maybe an antacid chaser.

Grissom had just sat down on the couch, opened a cold beer and started to eat his burger and fries. The combination of the crisp cold beer and the greasy sloppy cheeseburger made his earlier fight with Catherine a faded memory. He had carefully unwrapped his burger and with each bite, secret sauce was running down the paper and his chin. Just as he took another bite, he heard Hank making weird noises outside. Hank was making his "I want to go outside" whimper but he was already outside. Grissom was going to let him sit out there awhile, knowing full well that he was not outside long enough to take care of all of his business, but the dog then began scratching at the door and barking loudly. Very loudly.

When he opened the door to let Hank in, the cool damp morning air hit him square in the face. It would have been a nice moment to enjoy but he was struggling to maintain his grip on the burger while trying to unhook Hank. All the while Hank was not cooperating, hoping for Grissom to make a bad move so he could snag his burger. After finally getting Hank unhooked he went back towards the coffee table to try and finish his dinner. Try was the operative word. Hank was having none of it. He continued to whimper and even poked Grissom in the knee with his nose, leaving a nice wet spot on his khakis to accentuate his point. "What's wrong with you?" Grissom asked, actually waiting for an answer.

"It's ok boy, it's just a storm coming," Grissom said as he patted the boxer's head, giving it a little tussle for good measure with his left hand, while his right was filled with his burger that was now dripping sauce down his arm and dangerously close to the floor.

But Hank kept on prancing around going from Grissom to the front door and back to Grissom again. Grissom listened to the clickity clack of Hank's toenails on their wood floor and thought about how Sara would chastise him for letting them get that long. Impatient with being ignored, Hank let out a full-bodied bark to get Grissom's attention.

Grissom got up shoving a hand full of fries in his mouth while still maintaining a death grip on his burger and went towards his pet. "I swear Hank; I don't know what has gotten into you tonight – what do you think we have a prowler? Is that it boy? A big ol' prowler?" he joked as nearly tripped over the dog that was walking around him, making sure he got to the door.

As he got closer to the door, with a mouth full of burger, he said to Hank, "Now get ready to call Brass if I'm not back in two minutes. Tell him we have a 403 - he'll know what that means," he continued joking as he reached for the door handle and opened it. Still looking over at Hank finishing his conversation, he didn't see is what Hank had perfect sight of and was so excited about.

A tired, nervous Sara was standing in the doorway, fidgeting with her jacket. She looked full of anticipation, afraid, happy and nervous all at the same time.

"What are you looking at boy?" Grissom asked as he turned around to see what he was looking at. Grissom stood in the doorway, perfectly still, mouth gaping open and his burger dripping down his hand and arm. He was afraid to move because if he did, she might disappear.

He was snapped back to reality when a familiar voice said, "I think you have been hanging out with Nick too much," Sara said as she pointed to the burger.

"Huh?" he barely grunted out. He was still waiting for his brain to catch up to what his eyes were seeing.

"Well, unless I am mistaken that is the Nick special animal style " she said pointing to his burger again, and crinkling her nose in mock disgust.

"Well, you were gone" Grissom said, not thinking about the time that they had been apart, but trying to lightheartedly joke with her.

But by the look on Sara's face he had made a terrible mistake. Sara looked like she had been combo slapped across the face and punched in the gut at the same time. Sara felt as if all of the wind had been sucked out of her lungs and it hurt to breathe. Her worst fear had come to play; she had been gone too long and she had lost her chance to be with Grissom.

She looked down at the ground, unable to look him in the eyes it was too hard, if she was going to go, then she had to make another clean break and just leave. It was after all what she had prepared for. She had rehearsed 27 different scenarios in her head. This was as bad as #4 but not nearly as bad as #18, which involved him living with Lady Heather.

Hank, upset with not getting any attention after he had waited patiently, broke both of their thoughts by going through Grissom's legs to get to Sara, effectively knocking him into her, throwing him off balance. Grissom could either crash down the stairs, or grab on to Sara for support he chose the latter. With his arms flailing, he dropped his burger to the ground behind her so he could more effectively grab on to her.

Sara was engulfed by Grissom's bear hug, her arms were pinned at her sides, which left her open to Hank to lick away at her until before he made his way to Grissom's burger that had fallen abandoned on the steps.

"I thought…" Sara started.

"I could never…" Grissom finished.

He stared at her, loosening his grip a bit so he could get a better look at her. He gently touched her cheek, wiping away a tear that had just started to fall.

He looked in her eyes trying to see what he had missed. She looked like she had spent a little more time in the sun that normal. Her hair looked a little longer and there seemed to be a few more grays popping out.

They were both silently letting tears fall freely mesmerized as Grissom slowly leaned in for a gentle kiss.

Hank again broke them apart with a swift nose to the back of Sara's kneecap nudging them back into the house.

They broke way, laughing as they were being herded like sheep into their own house. Their house. His hand slipped down and reached out for Sara's hand where he intertwined hers with his. It still fit. It still felt right, he thought as he pulled her through the doorway.

Hank looked back at them offering a little snort of approval.

* * *

_Thanks for reading!_


End file.
